Lincolnville, ME has been running on solar power since January. The array is located on town-owned property and has produced more than 14 megawatts since the beginning of the year.

The solar panels are installed next to the Lincolnville Central Fire Station on a quarter-acre parcel of town-owned land. The 43.4 kilowatt system is expected to produce enough power to meet municipal needs. In past years, town buildings and facilities have consumed an average of 59,000 kW per year.

The solar array is on target, for the first quarter of 2017, to meet those needs, and to provide enough power to supply electricity to the Town Office, sand/salt storage building, Breezemere Park bandstand, two fire stations, and lighting at Linconville Beach, the harbor and town pier.

Read the whole article here: http://waldo.villagesoup.com/p/sun-power-lights-municipal-buildings-in-lincolnville/1643915

From the Portland Press Herald:

Two small, isolated Maine colleges that focus on sustainability and the environment know they aren’t for everyone.

Students have to work in the local community, where they experience the real world and reflect on how they can apply that and their book learning to impact the future of the world.

“Everything we work on is involved in the community. It isn’t theoretical, but real,” said Spencer Gray, a fourth-year student from Woolwich who is working within College of the Atlantic’s new Community Energy Center, which matches students with solar and other sustainability efforts in the local community. Many students like Gray self-direct their studies, and there are ample opportunities for collaborations with other students and the one-on-one interactions with professors that small colleges afford.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics generally defines sustainability professionals as people who promote environmental protection, social responsibility and profitability. In early April, 57 sustainability jobs were listed on Indeed.com in Maine, ranging from scientists to financial analysts to educators and salespeople while LinkedIn listed a total of 27,100 sustainability jobs across the country.

From the Portland Press Herald:

The near-term future of rooftop solar energy in Maine is likely to be decided this spring, as lawmakers consider changes to a widely criticized rule approved in January by the Public Utilities Commission.

Two major bills are pending that would supersede the PUC’s approach to compensating homeowners for the solar power they generate, an incentive called net energy billing or net metering. If nothing happens, the PUC rule goes into force in 2018.

Remember that in 2015 the very same PUC concluded a study into the value of solar in Maine. What it found was that solar benefits all ratepayers, whether they have solar on their roof or not. Our take is that even with the benefit of several months to reconsider their initial ruling, the PUC has decided to issue an un-implementable, ‘judgement with no trial’ indictment of solar that ignores their own data showing that solar adds tremendous value to the grid and that utility customers should be able to benefit from this value.

One bill, sponsored by Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, would preserve the full financial incentives of net metering, and offer rebates to help more homes and businesses generate electricity from the sun. This bill is backed by the Maine Environmental Priorities Coalition, which represents conservation, faith-based and public health groups.

Another bill is due to be sponsored by Sen. Tom Saviello, R-Wilton. It also would preserve full net-metering incentives, but only until a PUC study determines how to use smart electric meters to calculate the value of solar at different times of the day and year. It was developed with help from industry leaders, including ReVision Energy, Maine’s largest solar installer, and SunRun, the nation’s top rooftop solar company.

Read the full article here: http://www.pressherald.com/2017/03/20/bills-to-expand-solar-incentives-ready-to-launch/